Taking issue with LaBute’s opinions

NEIL LaBUTE’s statement that colorblind casting fails to “put the best person in a role, regardless of color” implies that unqualified minority actors are somehow usurping the rightful place of qualified white actors [“The Cast System,” May 6]. That opinion reeks of white privilege, as does his statement that we should all “get over” the American history of slavery. The tragedy of our current theatrical climate is not that white actors are being denied compelling ethnic roles, but that minority actors are repeatedly denied compelling mainstream roles. Before colorblind casting can “cut both ways,” the theater must rectify a long and continued history of minority under-representation. I’m disappointed with the Los Angeles Times for printing this article, which seems more like a sensationalist ad for LaBute’s upcoming West Coast premiere than a genuine opinion piece.

MICHAEL LEW

New York

*

IN his historically uninformed article Neil LaBute complains, “For most white actors today, roles of color ... are not even an option for them.... “ However, elsewhere in that same issue of Calendar is a picture of Angelina Jolie as the real-life light-skinned black wife of Daniel Pearl.

If white actors “are not allowed” to play characters of color, how did Jolie get the part?

ROBERT PAYNE

Studio City